


Hello Stranger

by KC_alwaysandcompletely



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Random & Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 05:11:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14763242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KC_alwaysandcompletely/pseuds/KC_alwaysandcompletely





	Hello Stranger

“Hello stranger” he pricked his ears up at her words. So soft he hardly dared believe. He shut his eyes tight and waited. Hoped. To hear that voice again. He’d heard it in his head for so many years. The voice of his conscience, his anxieties but most often the quite voice of hope.

Her throaty chuckle ended in a long-suffering sigh. “what not even a hello”  
The silence stretched between them.  
But though they did not speak he could feel her every move. She was closer now. So close her breath tickled the back of his neck. But that couldn’t be right. She didn’t have any breath. Not anymore.  
His mind conjured her face against his eyelids. Just as she had been. Brown waves tumbling haphazardly to pastey shoulders. skin stretched tight over the freshest wounds. the glinting sun reflected in stormy eyes, orange fleck bold against the rest. Spots making a dot to dot across freckled skin. Signature ruby lips quirked at a long-forgotten joke.  
“you can’t be here” he breathed  
“because I’m dead?”  
“yes” he could feel the traitorous tears welling. 

A cool palm glided carefully along his arm.  
“open your eyes”  
“no”  
The hand slid from jacket to neck. And on to cup his cheek. Palm soft against the stubble.  
“I’m sorry. John. But this is real. You know what that means. Please open your eyes”  
He leant his cheek against the palm nuzzling almost involuntarily. The voice was right he did know. He’d known the moment he heard her voice.  
So slowly. Ever so slowly he opened his eyes.  
Stormy met icy. And for a moment time slipped away. 

It was like looking at a photograph. The same golden brown curls. The mismatched eyes. The same ruby lips. But like a snap chat filter the image was edited. Flawless skin in place of spotty. Smooth and unblemished.  
she stretched those ruby lips into a wide smile. “you got old”  
He nodded slightly his mane of grey flopping.  
“you didn’t” the smile slid slowly away replaced by a wistful gaze he’d never seen in life.  
“no I didn’t. but that’s ok” he raised one mighty brow and was rewarded by a low chuckle “you know what I mean” her hand slipped back down to fiddle with his lapel “besides we’re not here for me”  
“I wish it had been me” he’d never said the words out loud. Not even to himself. They felt strange on his tongue.  
“I don’t” she spoke gently but he knew the undertone well. No arguments. 

“I am so proud of you. You did all the things you wanted. All the things we always talked about”  
Something twisted in his heart  
“you’re a dad and a grandad. A husband and a friend. You’ve done so much” the smile stretched across her face again a little tighter than before.  
“ and you’ve seen so much. So many places. Everything you wanted to see” 

“not everything” he swallowed hard “I wanted to see you.”  
“ cap and gown up on that stage. In a white dress walking toward me. Tripping over bairns…..”

“hush.” She brought her hands up to his face again, fingers tracing the many lines, tickled by the salt and pepper stubble. He closed his eyes again basking in every gentle glide again his skin.  
“ I wanted you with me” the confession whispered to the air  
“ I was with you. Through every heartbeat. I never left. Through every happy day and every sorrowful. So many smiles and frowns they marked your face”  
The attempt at humour fell flat.  
He summoned his strength and opened his eyes again.  
“I’m glad I got to see you again. One last time. Even if ..” he fumbled for the word his mind clouding.  
“ even if? “ 

“even if I’m dead too”


End file.
